UFC Fight Night 30: Pearson vs. Guillard

Ross Pearson (17-6) vs. Melvin Guillard (48-13-3)

Ross Pearson looks for another impressive win on his resume, but it will not be easy as he goes up against Melvin Guillard, a guy that nearly has three times the victories of Pearson.

Pearson is on a two-fight streak, including a knockout of Ryan Couture in the second round during their match on April 6. Pearson is the type of fighter that wants to turn it into a brawl, and almost does not mind getting hit. While a lot of fighters throw punches to keep their opponent at bay, Pearson is always looking to deliver the knockout punch. However, this reckless abandon has not hurt him as bad as one would think, as he has only two losses by way of knockout. He will need to control his emotions though and not get cute when he gets into the octagon with Guillard, who has an incredible 62 fights to his resume. After losing two straight fights, Guillard got back on the winning track by knocking out Mac Danzig in the second round on July 27. He has been in every situation imaginable to be in inside of the octagon, so nothing Pearson does will surprise him. Guillard has struggled as of late against the submission though, with six of his past eight defeats ending that way. While Pearson has won matches by submission, it is not his strength. Look for this to be a back-and-forth fight, with the underdog PEARSON doing just enough damage to get a very close victory.

"The Real Deal" Pearson has shown the ability to go the distance in fights in his career, with seven of his 17 victories coming by decision. He has also won five fights by knockout and five by submission, so he has been versatile throughout his career. He lands 4.16 strikes per minute, which is extremely high. Guillard lands 3.22, which also considerably high. Both fighters' striking accuracy is 42 percent, which shows both are willing to throw the punches, but are also sporadic with actually landing them. Pearson does an outstanding job with his takedown defense, blocking 81 percent of his opponent’s takedown attempts. Against a fighter like Guillard, who has a takedown accuracy percentage of 74 percent, this is a huge key. For the 29-year-old Pearson, he just needs to come out and fight his fight, and not let the bright lights get to him. If he is able to do that, he should be able to move his winning streak to three. However, if he gets careless, then Guillard has a great chance of prevailing.

With "The Young Assassin" Guillard's ability to take his opponent to the ground, you would expect to see more wins by submission than just two in his career. However, he does this to get points for a win by decision, where he has an impressive 26 victories, six more than he's had knockouts. But to win so many times via the judges, the 30-year-old Guillard remains an incredibly conditioned athlete. He will not have to worry much about Pearson’s takedown ability, as he completes only 31 percent of his attempts. Guillard, who has a one-inch height advantage on Pearson, must avoid his tendency to get complacent, and keep pushing to the end. As the lines would indicate, this is a very even match as both fighters’ strengths and weaknesses are very similar, and the key will be which fighter takes advantage of his moment.